Farscry rides a rollercoaster, Fyedaddy almost dies...

What's the deal with Phantom's Revenge? They took out all the loops and corkscrews? That part of the ride was great. Glad I got to ride the old one while it still existed.

I wish I had ridden it as well.

However the Revenge was still quite good. It had a lot of zero-gee moments on those damned little hills, and to be honest, they scare/thrill me far more than loops do.

Slumberland wrote:

What's the deal with Phantom's Revenge? They took out all the loops and corkscrews? That part of the ride was great. Glad I got to ride the old one while it still existed.

Yeah, that's exactly what they did. Their reasons given were that the old Phantom was "too rough" on passengers, and "too confining."

The old version did knock your head around a good bit if you didn't brace yourself against the seat, and it had over-the-shoulders restraints, so I guess it could've seemed confining. I loved the old version, and hate the new one. I think the new one is actually rougher, and less fun. Without the loops, they felt they could remove the over-the-shoulder restraints. Don't know why they couldn't have just gone with a good lap bar and crossing belts for the upper body restraints.

Oh, by the way, for the uninitiated, the original Steel Phantom:

Funny aside: this is from a "Roller Coaster Thrills" VHS tape that had a bunch of coasters on it. You could tell they always ran the POV run-through on an empty train because, well, for one, in that video, you can see Kennywood's parking lot across the street right before the first drop, and it's empty. And two, they use the same scream track, looped, for everything.

And, the replacement, the Phantom's Revenge:

This is not as good of a POV, but you can really tell how rough this is on riders from the vid, especially the last bump.

The most famous Kennywood Wooden coaster, the Thunderbolt:

And finally, my favorite wooden coaster, The Beast at Kings Island:

You can't tell from the video, but those tunnels are tight, downward spiral curves. This is the longest coaster I've ever been on, and I don't think I've seen a longer one.

nsmike wrote:

And finally, my favorite wooden coaster, The Beast at Kings Island:

You can't tell from the video, but those tunnels are tight, downward spiral curves. This is the longest coaster I've ever been on, and I don't think I've seen a longer one.

The Beast is the longest wooden coaster in the world. Son of the Beast was made a few feet shorter when designed to preserve that title.

Slumberland wrote:

Speaking of youtube, I had some fun making myself completely weak-kneed by watching movies of these thrill rides on top of the tower thingy in Vegas... anyone heard of these? A sample:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfEqf...

Hate to necro, but got linked here by fyedaddy's tagging thread, and this is a great topic. I love coasters

I rode that Stratosphere thing when I was in Vegas back in 1998 or so. One of the last family vacations with my parents as a teen, we did the Grand Canyon and some other stuff while we were out there. Very fun being so high above the city.

And I completely agree with all of NSMike's posts here. Love the Beast. My family drove the 3 hours from KY to King's Island every summer when I was growing up. From age 2, until 23 or so, I never missed a year of going at least once. After I stopped going with my parents at 18, I would drag lots of my college buddies or old high school friends along. And the Beast is the best wooden coaster ever. I'm really sad I didn't get to go one more time this summer before we moved out of state. Really too far for a day trip now.

Really love all the coasters at King's Island. Racers are still fun, Vortex is probably my favorite, Son of Beast if a marvelous engineering feat. I do miss the King Cobra. And I haven't been in about 3 years, so I never rode the newer coaster that went up in its place.

Probably will check out Busch Gardens in Tampa next month when my parents come to visit. Seems like a decent amount of coasters there from checking their website.

As to farscry and the start of the topic... not sure about the Six Flags you guys went to, but the one in St Louis had a Batman ride that was just amazing. Yeah it's a hanging coaster with your feet dangling, but it was the smoothest ride of any coaster I have ever been on. Rode it 3 times while I was there in '98 or so. It's the exact opposite of the Beast, the roughest coaster I've ever been on. Watch the Beast ride that NSMike posted, and just imagine that the car is shaking every bit of the way... especially at the part where it gets up to 70mph going down that one stretch.

The smoothest ride I've been on was the Medusa at Great Adventure, the roughest was Viper at the same place. The best? Easy:

The Cyclone at Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. You never realize just how narrow it is until you see it from above, or on the tight corners at the boardwalk end or the street end. Before the revitalization, they even had one of those pendulous pirate ships that flew out over the sidewalk on the street. Anyway, here she is (if the links hold):

IMAGE(http://www.joyrides.com/coney_island/photos/cyclone8.jpg)

IMAGE(http://www.nickcannon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/RWNC-Cyclone-4110-29.jpg)

I thought the Cyclone was dismantled. Good to see it's still around. I've always wanted to ride that thing...

Now I really want to go back to King's Island, I have some great memories of riding The Beast. Those tunnels are intense. You go into them so steep it looks like it'll rip your head off, then the force of the spiral can take your breath. The wooded scenery while your twisting through the nether is quite awesome too. Great coaster.

Robear wrote:

I thought the Cyclone was dismantled. Good to see it's still around. I've always wanted to ride that thing...

The Thunderbolt was taken down, but I believe the Cyclone is a registered historic landmark.

Well since it's necro'd....

I took my 12 yr old to Six Flags this past Friday. First thing she wanted me to do when we exited the Superman (our first coaster of the day) was "to call Uncle Chris and tell him I didn't scream like a girl.".

Of course, three coasters later, she did just that (screaming in terror and not in fun) on the Iron Wolf (stand up coaster). I teased her about "pulling an Uncle Chris" after that and her reply was "well, I AM a 12 yr old girl. What's his excuse?".

SillyRabbit wrote:

Now I really want to go back to King's Island, I have some great memories of riding The Beast. Those tunnels are intense. You go into them so steep it looks like it'll rip your head off, then the force of the spiral can take your breath. The wooded scenery while your twisting through the nether is quite awesome too. Great coaster. :)

I already have vacation plans this summer or I'd totally meet you there just to ride that coaster.

Fyedaddy wrote:

12 yr old girl

Man that would have made a good tag for him.

Damn, this is making me pine for a good coaster. I haven't been on one in the last two years.

My two favorites are still The Comet at Great Escape in Lake George, NY, and the Superman ride at Six Flags New England. What can I say, I love wooden-style coasters. Inversions are neat, but I way prefer fast turns, good negative Gs on hills, and straight high speed.

The Comet is just a well-designed classic from the golden age of coasters. It was built in the 20s, dismantled and stored, then rescued from destruction by the Great Escape's owner and refurbished and reassembled there. Gorgeous design, good speed and turns, and just enough of that creak factor that makes the wooden ones great.

The Superman ride takes what makes wooden coasters great, and does it with steel. Huge first hill with a longer first drop than first lift (because it drops you straight into a mist-filled tunnel). Incredibly fast with mammoth sweeping helixes and a lot of good use of vertical space. One of my favorite memories of that park was going on a day that had had torrential rains a few hours earlier. The place was deserted, so we got to ride it a half dozen times in an hour.

I need to get on a coaster again.

I'm probably going to regret this thread necro, but I'm curious...

Anybody have a better experience with skydiving than with rollercoasters?

My team at my new-ish job has several people putting together a skydiving lesson/day thing sometime this spring, and that stupid "face your fears" instinct of mine is kicking in and getting to actually consider trying it.

Yes, I already talked about this with Fyedaddy, and he's pretty much in the "whoa buddy, BAD idea" ballpark.

But I mean, I didn't get sick or pass out from the coasters... just several minutes of utter terror...

Farscry wrote:

I'm probably going to regret this thread necro

"OH GOD! OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!OHGOD!!!" *dead silence*

like roller coasters as long as they don't go upside down.

I'm never convinced the ones that go upside down won't cause me to fall out and die.

Otherwise - I love 'em.

Physics fail =P
[standing on the ground = 1G; going upside down in a rollercoaster loop = 2,3,4G's]
In other words, it takes less energy to fall out of the atmosphere than it does to fall from a rollercoaster loop.

In regards to skydiving, I figure as long as you can get out of the plane, the scariest part I'd wager, you'd be fine.

I have pretty bad acrophobia but as long as I am wrapped, belted up, lying down or on my hands and feet, I am much better.

So for instance, climbing a 30+ foot ladder would be okay but stepping over the edge to climb back down would be troublesome. Actually even a 15 ft ledge gives me problems and I have to work up to get close to a 10 ft ledge.

fangblackbone wrote:

I have pretty bad acrophobia but as long as I am wrapped, belted up, lying down or on my hands and feet, I am much better.

So for instance, climbing a 30+ foot ladder would be okay but stepping over the edge to climb back down would be troublesome. Actually even a 15 ft ledge gives me problems and I have to work up to get close to a 10 ft ledge.

Sounds pretty similar to me. A 10ft+ ledge with no railing does make me nervous. Throw a railing on there, I can handle some pretty good heights. I went up to the bluffs in northeast Iowa once this summer and there was a good 60-80ft dropoff at one point which gave me a bit of trouble when I first stepped up to look over the railing, but I did fine after the initial trouble.

And yes, I figure the absolute worst part of skydiving would be the stepping out of the plane part. I'm honestly not sure I can do that. Might have to get pushed out if I go.

I'm also not sure what's worse: doing a tandem jump (being strapped to someone will make me feel less in control and freak me out more) or jump solo (fear of passing out and not pulling my 'chute. Though if I'm passed out at least I won't notice the impact at the end...).

The only reason I'm even seriously considering this is because I'm stubborn when it comes to facing my fears. But damn, that's one serious fear...

I just don't see a reason for jumping out of a perfectly good airplane...

Farscry wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

I have pretty bad acrophobia but as long as I am wrapped, belted up, lying down or on my hands and feet, I am much better.

So for instance, climbing a 30+ foot ladder would be okay but stepping over the edge to climb back down would be troublesome. Actually even a 15 ft ledge gives me problems and I have to work up to get close to a 10 ft ledge.

Sounds pretty similar to me. A 10ft+ ledge with no railing does make me nervous. Throw a railing on there, I can handle some pretty good heights. I went up to the bluffs in northeast Iowa once this summer and there was a good 60-80ft dropoff at one point which gave me a bit of trouble when I first stepped up to look over the railing, but I did fine after the initial trouble.

And yes, I figure the absolute worst part of skydiving would be the stepping out of the plane part. I'm honestly not sure I can do that. Might have to get pushed out if I go.

I'm also not sure what's worse: doing a tandem jump (being strapped to someone will make me feel less in control and freak me out more) or jump solo (fear of passing out and not pulling my 'chute. Though if I'm passed out at least I won't notice the impact at the end...).

The only reason I'm even seriously considering this is because I'm stubborn when it comes to facing my fears. But damn, that's one serious fear...

Would they even let you do a solo jump your first time?

I think if I were to skydive, I would have to close my eyes when I get up to go out of the plane. And I don't think they let you solo your first time.

Railings help me some or I should say I can approach my fear and adjust it quicker with a bar or railing. Glass elevators are the worst though. Oh and glass walled or metal mesh bottomed archways just plain suck. I think they might be a better way to practice managing your fear than skydiving, though.

The SF MOMA has a metal meshed bridge with glass railing that is about 8 ft wide and about 8 stories up. *shudders*

sidenote: I love rollercoasters. Again I think I am probably more comfortable in them because I am sitting down and have a bar to grab.

Rainsmercy wrote:

I just don't see a reason for jumping out of a perfectly good airplane...

Snakes?

Stengah wrote:

Would they even let you do a solo jump your first time?

I actually don't know. And the tandem jump thing (by that, I mean physically strapped to a trained jumper) is dissuasive enough that I don't think I can do this then, because of the following reason:

fangblackbone wrote:

sidenote: I love rollercoasters. Again I think I am probably more comfortable in them because I am sitting down and have a bar to grab.

A big part of the fear with coasters and other things is, I think, the illusion of control - or the lack thereof.

For example, driving: I've been in a car that's lost control on ice/snow conditions many times. When it's been me behind the wheel, I don't have the luxury of being scared, because I need to regain control and avoid causing injury to myself or, more importantly, to others. When it's been someone else behind the wheel, I have been absolutely terrified until they regained control.

Now, did I actually have control when I was the driver? Not initially; I mean, that's the very definition of "loss of control"! It means that your car has lost traction, and all you as the driver can do is attempt to use what you know of driving as well as any skill you have developed, and attempt to mitigate the effects of that lost control by regaining as much control as you can. But if I'm behind the wheel, I am able to keep the illusion of control, whereas when I am a passenger I cannot.

Rollercoasters: When on the coasters, I had no control whatsoever. Even worse, neither did anyone else! There was no driver; the coaster just gets sent off a cliff and it does its thing. There's no braking to take turns at optimal conditions, and there's a sense on the wooden one that it was about to rattle itself off the tracks. Which, given that I was strapped in securely, meant that I was completely at the mercy of whatever happened to me.

Skydiving: Since the chute pops when I yank the cord, that gives me some illusion of control. However, once you step out of the plane, you surrender the option to step back in! So it's sort of a semi-control situation with no "takeback." Which is why I don't know if I would handle it better than a coaster or not. There's also the feeling that if it was a tandem jump, I'm even less under the illusion of control, making it even more ripe for terror.

Honestly, I'm leaning away from doing it, but I want to fully explore the option, which is why I'm asking for feedback from anyone else similar to me who might be able to convince me one way or the other.

[edit]Also, I'm a bit on the fat side and mildly afraid I'd make the chute rip and get myself killed.

Farscry wrote:

Honestly, I'm leaning away from doing it, but I want to fully explore the option, which is why I'm asking for feedback from anyone else similar to me who might be able to convince me one way or the other.

[edit]Also, I'm a bit on the fat side and mildly afraid I'd make the chute rip and get myself killed. :D

Sounds to me these are all perfectly normal and sane questions to be asking of a company that you would be skydiving with. As much as I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let you jump out by yourself the first time around, you can also ask them if you can pull the cord. Think of a tandem jump as a driving school car that has doubled controls. You drive, but the instructor always has a means of overriding your controls for safety reasons.

I would also think that they have chutes designed for different weight tolerances. And if you're going tandem with a professional, I'm pretty sure this professional will make sure that the chute you BOTH are using can hold you BOTH successfully.

fangblackbone wrote:

Anybody have a better experience with skydiving than with rollercoasters?

I've got about 12 parachute jumps under my belt from my early twenties.

TL:DR version, it was simultaneously the most terrifying, and most exhilarating thing I've ever done. Hardest part is hurling yourself out of the plane. Everything else after that was gravy. Oh, and bricking yourself non-stop from climbing onboard the airplane until such time as you're expected to throw yourself out.

How fat is fat? I used to jump with a guy who was well over 200lbs. Fat guys need bigger chutes is all.

If you want my vote, you'd be crazy *not* to do it. It's one hell of an experience, and you'll never forget it.

NSMike wrote:

Ok, so I guess I shouldn't really be posting here, since I love coasters. If you want one of the best wooden coaster experiences, hit up King's Island in Cincinnati, OH. First, ride The Beast. This is the greatest wooden coaster ever built, hands down. Second, ride Son of Beast, the only looping wooden coaster in the world. You could probably end your day at that point, but there are a few other, good coasters in the park.

In Sandusky, OH, resides Cedar Point, practically the roller coaster Mecca for coaster enthusiasts. Home to several record-breakers (though not record-holders anymore, since Sandusky got nervous and put a law on the books that they couldn't go any higher than they already had), my favorite steel coaster lives there, the Millenium Force. 310 foot hill, 80 degree drop, negative G's on corresponding hills, minimalistic restraints. It was a pioneer in coasters, that's for sure. Oh, and there's a speed lift up the first hill that goes about 35 MPH and speeds up at the top to throw you down that first hill. This was not really done as a means to increase thrill, but to make sure a good wind didn't catch the train on the way over the next one and cause it to roll back. Since the park is on a lake, strong winds are pretty common, which affects another record breaker in the park, the Top Thrill Dragster. Just google it, it's too awesome to describe here. But this one frequently hits a wind in just the right way to cause rollback. Then they launch you again.

Good times.

I grew up with those... love em and hate em!

Jonman wrote:

How fat is fat? I used to jump with a guy who was well over 200lbs. Fat guys need bigger chutes is all.

If you want my vote, you'd be crazy *not* to do it. It's one hell of an experience, and you'll never forget it.

I'm 6'2" and around 260 pounds (last time I weighed in I was around 255 and I'm sure I've put on around five since then; I lost weight this spring/summer but yoyo'd this autumn :().

Thanks for your post, I never even thought about asking if they'd let me pull the cord on a tandem jump. The driving instructor analogy helps.

Farscry wrote:
Jonman wrote:

How fat is fat? I used to jump with a guy who was well over 200lbs. Fat guys need bigger chutes is all.

If you want my vote, you'd be crazy *not* to do it. It's one hell of an experience, and you'll never forget it.

I'm 6'2" and around 260 pounds (last time I weighed in I was around 255 and I'm sure I've put on around five since then; I lost weight this spring/summer but yoyo'd this autumn :().

Thanks for your post, I never even thought about asking if they'd let me pull the cord on a tandem jump. The driving instructor analogy helps.

First thing to do is call the dropzone and see if they've got rigs for guys your size. They probably will.

I didn't go myself, but Cheeto1016 here on the boards went recently. When he described the experience to me, he said the whole "fear of heights" feeling isn't really there because you have no reference for perspective when jumping from a plane. Mind you, the whole idea of jumping out of a plane is pretty intimidating by itself, but Cheeto had a great time doing it. Here's his jump (skipping the long intro).

Since you mentioned WAY back in '08 that you didn't have a problem flying, this may work out OK for you. But I'm not an expert. Consult your physician/therapist first and find out not only if you're physically fit enough, but psychologically, as well.

Cheeto also said that the instructor who would be strapped on your back can do some moves once the chute is open that feel roller-coaster-ish, but only if you want him to. I would recommend against it, obviously.